House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she opposes a cut in congressional pay because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers' jobs.

"I don't think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. "I think it's necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded."

The comments were made in the context of the looming sequester, which would force across-the-board cuts affecting most federal offices, including Congress. With lawmakers nowhere near a deal to avert those cuts, federal agencies are bracing for ways to absorb them with minimum damage to programs and personnel.

Pelosi, whose husband is a wealthy real-estate developer, was quick to note that a cut in her own pay would be far less significant than that for both staffers and less wealthy members of Congress.

"It's a hard question to ask me because most of my colleagues are the breadwinners in their families," she said. "A pay cut to me doesn't mean as much."

She also emphasized that Congress should do everything it can to preclude such decisions by preventing the sequester cuts from taking effect at all.

"A sequester should be out of the question," she said.

Still, with the clock ticking down to March 1 – and with both chambers of Congress out of town next week – the chances of reaching a deal are growing slimmer. With that in mind, some lawmakers say they're hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

"We are, in fact, obviously contemplating a sequester," Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said this week. "Obviously we are going to take a cut, like everybody else, and we will have to accommodate that."

They are in this game because they are corrupt, not corrupt because they are in this game

They get into the game for whatever reason, but in order to stay in the game they need to win elections.

To win elections, you need money in our ass-backwards campaign finance system. And the caps on money have all but evaporated.

Therefore, you are driven deeper and deeper into the arms of people and organizations that will provide you ample funding.

Also, if you pay Congressmen less and less, while expecting them to live in multiple places across the country, including of the most expensive housing markets in the country, they will be more lured to the red carpets interest groups roll out.

It occurred to me, I wonder if anyone mentioned to Miss Nancy how many civilians had to take pay cuts to keep their jobs, forgoing their dignity and value in effort to remain employed in the economy her policies helped push down into a turd filled sewer?